What Jim himself thought, if his mental processes could be called
thinking, it would be difficult to state. He was dimly conscious that in
his companion's mind there was a heavy trouble brooding; and conscious,
also, of a desire to alleviate it, as far as possible, though in what
way that might be done, he had not the remotest idea. There seemed an
immense gulf between her and him, over which he never could reach to
proffer consolation; and while he blindly groped in his own mind for
some hint of his duty, he was fain to be content with such personal
attentions as defending her from heat and cold, dust and fatigue, and
reminding her that eating and drinking were among the necessary
inconveniences of this life. After a couple of days spent in revolving
the case hopelessly in his brain, his thoughts at length shaped
themselves thus:

"Waal, neow, 'taint no concern of mine, to be sure; but I'm beound to
see this gal threough. She's captain of this train, an' only got ter
give her orders. I'll obey 'em, ef they take me to thunder. That's so, I
veow!" After which conclusion of the whole matter, Jim appeared more at
his ease in all respects. In truth, the most enlightened of us go to
school to just such mental struggles, with profit to our minds and
manners.

Arrived at San Francisco, Miss Edwards took quarters at a hotel,
determined before reporting herself to any of her acquaintance to first
find whether Charles Erskine was alive, and, if so, where he could be
found. What a wearisome search was that before traces of him were
discovered, in a cheap boarding-house, in a narrow, dirty street. And
what bitter disappointment it was to learn that he had gone away some
weeks before, as soon as he was able to be moved. To renew the search in
the city, to send telegrams in every direction, was the next effort,
which, like the first, proved fruitless; and, at the end of ten days
Miss Edwards made a few formal calls on her friends, concluded some
necessary purchases, and set out on her return to Tesoro Rancho,
exhausted in mind and body.

If Jim was careful of her comfort before, he was tender toward her now;
and the lady accepted the protecting care of the serving-man with a dull
sense of gratitude. She even smiled on him faintly, in a languid way,
but in a way that seemed to him to lessen the distance between them.
Jim's education had been going on rapidly during the last ten days. He
seemed to himself to be quite another man th